Calm – managing anxiety and grounding techniques
During these difficult times it is important to eat, sleep, rest, take exercise and have time for relaxation. It can be difficult to relax your mind and body; with practice it can get easier and you need to work out what works best for you.
Below are some suggestions for relaxation and self-care to help manage anxiety.
Recordings to aid calm
Listen to our relaxation recordings read by one of our support workers:
Meditation Oasis have a wide range of podcasts for stress relief and relaxation in traumatic times. Wide range of meditations to help navigate anxiety (55 – SOS meditation for anxiety, 11 – grounding, 60 – belly breathing) and aid deep relaxation (57).
Online resources
- Free NHS Positive Rewards audio courses which promote positive mental health.
- Self-help guide on stress by Moodjuice/NHS
- Free mini online course on managing anxiety with Mindsprings Meditation Online
- You can look at our list of suggested Apps here
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping)
If you are experiencing anxiety, intrusive thoughts or catastrophic thinking (thinking of the worst case scenario) you can also consider looking into EFT is based on the principle that distressing thoughts and emotions are coupled with a ‘charge’ in the body. The therapist talks you through the process of tapping on acupressure points to gently release the charge, so the thoughts and emotions can be released. It can help reduce anxiety, fear and tension caused by distressing experiences.
Grounding techniques
- ‘Help Now’ resilience building strategies – 10 quick practical and easy to remember activities to help you if you need help now.
- Colouring book – print the ‘We Believe You‘ colouring in book for survivors and supporters by Ryerson University
- Yoga – free online yoga classes from yoga with Adrienne. They vary in length from 10 minutes and she includes grounding yoga practices and yoga for calm.
- Grounding cards – our STAR project use ‘therapeutic treasure box’ grounding cards in their support sessions with young survivors, and find them helpful as a creative way to calm and process difficult feelings.
- Dublin Rape Crisis have collated a list of grounding techniques
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is about focusing on the here and now. Its techniques have been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety and help instill a sense of calm. For some survivors it helps with panic attacks and flashbacks.
You can find out more about mindfulness and download meditation exercises at www.mindfulnessassociation.org and www.self-compassion.org.